The experience of playing against the club that helped make her the player she is today proved as memorable as Wieke Kaptein had hoped. That she left Twente having helped Chelsea to three more Champions League points only added to the sense of occasion.
Kaptein came through the ranks at FC Twente and helped her hometown club reach the Champions League by playing a central role in their Dutch title success during her loan spell last season.
She is firmly back at Chelsea now and has already proven key in Sonia Bompastor’s plans, with the head coach handing the 19-year-old a starting berth on her big night. As Kaptein explained afterwards, it was an emotional evening.
‘It was very special for me,’ she said.
‘I’ve been here since I was a kid. It was my dream to play here, and it’s a dream to play for Chelsea, so to combine this is really amazing.
‘It was a bit different,' she added.
'I almost stepped in the wrong changing rooms! It was really different to be in the other side’s changing rooms, and when you’re on the field and you hear them singing for Twente, but it’s also a really good feeling because they helped me make the step to Chelsea. It was an honour to be here again.’
Kaptein recorded an assist in her 3-1 win, although she was quick to give all the credit to Maika Hamano for her audacious long-range lob which doubled our lead midway through the first half.
Chelsea rarely got out of second gear in the Netherlands and that did give Twente a foothold in the game during the second half. Nonetheless, we saw out the victory to comfortably move to the top of Champions league Group B.
‘It was a tough game at times,’ she assessed. ‘We were really effective for the goals, that was really good. We needed to switch on a little bit more, keep pressure on it and believe in ourselves a little bit more, but we stand there as a team.
‘It’s really good to be top of the table. We are in a difficult group so it’s really good to win these games. Now we need to win the other games too so we can progress.’